The Supremes tinker with the status quo. Detainees are entitled to a ” meaningful hearing ” to dispute their status as ” enemy combatant ” before a ” neutral ” venue but their detention without charge is Constitutionally authorized by the U.S. Congress during a state of war.

This would seem to overturn Johnson v.Eisentrager but as far as I have read ( I am not finished yet ) O’Conner hasn’t made such a claim ( Hamdi is of course a U.S. citizen but most Guantanamo detainees are not ). My guess is that the Bush administration lost a vote or two because of Abu Ghraib ( Justices take ill to being deceived or misinformed during oral arguments) because the precedents – Ex Parte Quirin, Johnson v. Eisentrager- had been more on their side than that of Hamdi and Padilla. The costs of stupidity and cruelty can be high.

The prince was alluding to American calls for democratic political and social reform in KSA and the wider Arab world. The al Qaida terrorists who carried out bombings and beheadings in KSA were merely ” deviants ” in the view of Prince Naif.

Naif and Abdullah are struggling for power in the wake of the physical decline of King Fahd. In all previous royal successions the Crown Prince has moved up to become the King of Saudi Arabia but one monarch, the erratic and unpopular King Saud was later deposed by the royal family and replaced by Crown Prince Faisal when a power-sharing arrangement failed to end struggles over KSA policy. Naif’s obvious manuverings against Abdullah and his reaching out to Islamist extremists could indicate that the Crown Prince’s succession is by no means assured.

It is absolutely imperative the American policy makers, military leaders and analysts get an intellectual grip on what is happening on the ground in Iraq and provide operational space for military commanders and civil affairs officers to make innovative and systemic adaptations to tactics, policy and political message. Iraq presages an era asymmetric combat for the United States across all domains until we demonstrate the ability to retain the initiative and use our disparate power effectively.

About Me

Zenpundit is a blog dedicated to exploring the intersections of foreign policy, history, military theory, national security,strategic thinking, futurism, cognition and a number of other esoteric pursuits.